Maps of Music

My Love Is Your Love (1998)

Where the lyrics of My Love Is Your Love take you, and where it was really made.

A greatest hits collection was planned, but the songs recorded for it grew into Houston's first new studio album in eight years.

Key places

Houston's home studio in Mendham (1998)

Recording site Crossway Studios — Most of the album was recorded at Houston's home studio in Mendham, New Jersey. The point is placed at the town centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Brandon's Way studio in Los Angeles (1998)

Recording site Brandon's Way — Babyface recorded the torch ballad Until You Come Back at his Brandon's Way studio in Los Angeles. The song was co-written with Daryl Simmons. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The Hit Factory in New York (1998)

Recording site The Hit Factory — The Hit Factory is listed among the recording studios used for the album in New York City. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Right Track in New York (1998)

Recording site MSR Studios — Right Track is listed among the recording studios used for the album in New York City. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• My Love Is Your Love: fourth studio album by American singer Whitney Houston
• Released November 17, 1998 by Arista Records
• First studio album in eight years, following I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990)
• Executive produced by Houston and Clive Davis
• Production by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Missy Elliott, Wyclef Jean, Babyface, David Foster, and others
• Guest appearances by Faith Evans, Kelly Price, Mariah Carey, and Bobbi Kristina Brown
• Marked a significant musical reinvention, with contemporary R&B and hip hop as its direction

Background

• Houston had released no studio album since I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990), the longest gap between full-length projects in her career
• Her film soundtrack work, including The Bodyguard and The Preacher's Wife, had kept her in music during that time
• Clive Davis first sought a greatest hits album for her as early as 1995
• Davis wrote Houston a letter in 1997 urging her to return to the studio, and she reportedly agreed
• Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks asked her to record "When You Believe" in August 1998, which led the project toward a new album

Recording

• Most of the album was recorded at Houston's home studio, Crossway Studios, in Mendham, New Jersey
• Additional sessions took place at Jerkins' studio in Pleasantville, and in New York City and Los Angeles
• Most sessions took place between August and October 1998
• Completed in about six to seven weeks, the fastest-recorded studio album of her career
• Houston usually finished lead vocals in one day and returned the next day for background vocals

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey.
• Began as a background singer for her mother Cissy Houston at age 14.
• Signed to Arista Records in April 1983 after a performance seen by Clive Davis.

Career

• Debut album Whitney Houston (1985) topped the Billboard 200 for 14 weeks.
• Second album Whitney (1987) debuted at number one in the US and UK simultaneously.
• Starred in The Bodyguard (1992); its soundtrack is among the best-selling of all time.
• "I Will Always Love You" is the best-selling single by a female solo artist.
• Died February 11, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield called it her most consistent album ever and praised her mature voice
• Jon Pareles of the New York Times praised her fully developed voice and singled out "It's Not Right but It's Okay", "Heartbreak Hotel", and "My Love Is Your Love"
• Billboard called the album a tour de force across pop, R&B, gospel, and dance, and said it had immense crossover potential
• Entertainment Weekly's Mark Bautz gave it B+ and called it a schizophrenic album, citing its unevenness
• TIME praised the title song as superb and the Stevie Wonder cover as fabulous, but criticized the old-fashioned songs
• USA Today's Steve Jones made favorable comments on nearly every song and chose "I Was Made To Love Him" as the best track
• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it four out of five stars and said it easily ranks among her best
• Los Angeles Times gave it three out of four stars

Reappraisal

• Retrospective reviewers and critics have named "It's Not Right but It's Okay" among the greatest dance songs of all time

Records

• US Billboard 200 peak at number 13, her lowest peak at that time
• First-week sales of 123,000 copies in the US
• On the Billboard 200 for 75 weeks
• RIAA four-times platinum certification on November 1, 1999, for four million shipments
• 2,753,000 copies sold in the US according to Nielsen SoundScan
• UK: number four, certified 3× Platinum for 900,000 copies
• France: number two, certified 2× platinum
• Germany: number two, more than 670,000 copies sold
• Number one in Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands
• IFPI four-times platinum for four million copies in Europe
• Over 10 million copies sold worldwide as of May 2000

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Bobbi Kristina was present at the studio during the sessions, and Jean and Duplessis recorded the then-five-year-old encouraging her mother, which Houston approved for inclusion.
• "It's Not Right but It's Okay" was the first of Jerkins' songs presented to Davis and Houston, and Houston reportedly began dancing and singing along.
• Houston had bronchitis, which delayed the recording of "It's Not Right but It's Okay" for several days.
• "If I Told You That" was first intended as a duet with Michael Jackson, who declined the collaboration.
• The Stevie Wonder reinterpretation "I Was Made to Love Him" was the last collaboration completed in production and was included only as a bonus track.
• The liner notes carried a disclaimer that the events and characters depicted are fictitious.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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